Rachel goes on the warpath, lashing out at Sarah’s nearest and dearest. While she tries to keep her loved ones safe, an unexpected visitor threatens to derail Sarah’s plans.
This episode contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Henrik and Bonnie lock Gracie in a cell and sew her lips together because she let Helena loose and wouldn't talk about what happened. As far as they know, she was attacked. They even go so far to threaten to forcibly impregnate her with Helena's child.
- BFG: Helena breaks out the sniper rifle - and this time Rachel is in the crosshairs. Doubles as IKEA Weaponry, as we see her methodically putting it together.
- Big Eater: Hard-boiled eggs? Sardines with mustard? Mini doughnuts with powdered sugar? Ramen noodles - uncooked? Helena takes her jello-with-extra-sugar moment from Season 1 and turns it up to eleven.
- Blackmail/Frame-Up: Rachel sends Paul to force Felix's prints onto a murder weapon. If Sarah doesn't surrender herself, Kira, and Helena by morning, Felix will be turned over to the police for a crime he didn't commit.
- The Bus Came Back: A very minor example, the bartender Bobby from the series premier. Colin, Felix's on-again-off-again boyfriend, also appears briefly.
- Call-Back: The Maggie Chen subplot is brought back.
- Calling Card: Helena's signature stick figure is drawn in blood around Rachel's apartment.
- The beheaded doll representing Rachel, meaning Helena will try to kill her.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Averted. Sarah doesn't care that Paul is having sex with Rachel — she just wants to stop Helena from making things worse by assassinating Rachel.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Also averted. Paul isn't at all bothered when he hears that Sarah has reunited with her daughter's father. The fact that he has much more pressing issues to deal with probably contributes.
- Deliberately Cute Child: Kira charms a police officer into leaving her and Cal alone.
- Distressed Dude: Felix was framed by the Dyad for a murder and is held by the police as a suspect. Leekie will pull strings to release him only if Sarah and Helena find Ethan Duncan in three days.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Averted. Rachel having sexual intercourse with Paul is disturbing and uncomfortable because he's clearly being coerced.
- Fan Disservice: The sex is very cold and a little creepy because of it.
- Eye Scream: Helena tells Art the story of the Mother Superior at her convent who was convinced she was possessed and locked her in the dark."So I gave her darkness." [mimes gouging the nun's eyes out]
- Reinforced when Sarah and Art discover a picture of a nun with scratched-out eyes in the Room Full of Crazy.
- Fanservice: Felix and Colin get their freak on, and gloriously so.
- Good Old Ways: Inverted. Bonnie and Henrik are upset that Gracie apparently clings to an older, more fundamental form of Prolethian doctrine.
- Gratuitous Latin: The episode's Latin title is commonly translated to "Knowledge Is Power", although it could be more accurately translated as "Knowledge Itself Is Power". Like the other episodes of the season, this one's title is a Literary Allusion Title to the writings of scientist Francis Bacon.
- I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: Rachel's modus operandi.
- It's Personal: Rachel becomes increasingly ruthless after Daniel is killed.
- Internal Reveal: Sarah learns that Cosima is sick.
- Kick the Dog:
- Practically everything Rachel does in this episode, inching her closer to the
Moral Event Horizon.- Denying Cosima potentially life-saving medical treatment to punish Sarah.
- Framing Felix for one of Daniel's murders.
- Taking advantage of her authority by raping Paul.
- We can't forget Henrik and particularly Bonnie's behaviour in this episode either. Virtually everything they do towards Gracie in this episode is a Kick the Dog moment.
- Paul takes way too much pleasure in threatening Felix and framing him for murder.
- Practically everything Rachel does in this episode, inching her closer to the
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Leekie definitely comes across as this as compared to the rest of the Dyad.
- Lingerie Scene: Rachel dons a flimsy babydoll nightie to seduce Paul.
- The Lost Lenore: Daniel to Rachel.
- Medical Rape and Impregnate: Gracie is threatened with being forcibly impregnated with Helena's child. By her own mother.
- Moment Killer: Felix and Colin are very close to getting intimate when Dyad agents, including Paul, interrupt them.
- Mouth Stitched Shut: Grace's punishment for refusing to tell her parents what happened between her and Helena.
- Oh, Crap!: Sarah and Felix's reaction to Rachel's various attacks.
- Not Quite Dead: Ethan Duncan, Rachel's father, was thought to have died, but Maggie Chen had a picture of him dated to after the time of the fire. It's also implied that Helena knows him.
- Not So Stoic: Rachel is visibly distraught at the crime scene, though she tries to hide it. She later slaps Paul in a moment of anger when he brings up Daniel.
- Out of Focus: Alison Hendrix and Siobhan Sadler do not appear in this episode.
- Pet the Dog: Mark's visit to Gracie in her cell. He's very tender and concerned for her, sneaks her some milk, and leaves her with a kiss on the cheek.
- Leekie defies Rachel's orders to stop treating Cosima and cuts a deal with Sarah to get Felix released if she can find Ethan Duncan.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Paul really doesn't want to follow Rachel's orders, but he has no choice in the matter.
- Race Against the Clock: Sarah and Helena have three days to find Ethan Duncan before nothing can be done to help Felix (short of begging for Rachel's forgiveness, which is clearly never going to happen).
- The Reveal:
- The original genome was lost in the fire that killed Rachel's family.
- Ethan Duncan didn't die in the fire.
- Room Full of Crazy: Maggie Chen's locker, where Helena used to live.
- Rule of Symbolism: Helena is fascinated by the fish in Art's apartment. The Prolethian symbol is a fish with wings.
- Tastes Like Friendship: Art gets Helena's cooperation by cooking for her.
- Uncanny Valley Makeup: Part of Helena's prep for assassinating Rachel includes putting lipstick on a severed doll's head - then on herself. Since this is the first time we've seen Helena wearing any kind of makeup, the result is...unsettling.
